Life in Various Earths
by Shibito
Summary: The Universe is a weird thing, and sometimes, it has its screw ups. And there are quite alot of screw ups, and one unlucky girl gets to take all the unstable, dangerous screw ups and put them all in the same place together! It's a tale of disasters, and noone can catch a break, not even in a fantasy land, apparently.
1. The world is a strange place

" _What would you do if I offered you the chance to live the same life differently?"_

" _I wouldn't do it."_

" _And why is that?"_

" _I wouldn't want to change a thing."_

* * *

Today was, truly across all land, a beautiful morning. At the crack of 6 in the morning, Sunlight gazed its way through the mountaintop that covered it for so long, the grass and forestry lit up from the rays of sun, the leaves and grass drifting in the soft blow from morning breeze. Dew, settled for a short moment, awaiting the time when the people would wake up to a new day, and surely crumple the delicate drips of water, resting on the grass and trees around the village. Today was a day for the residents of the village to wake up, ready for the day that will come, hoping for the betterment of themselves, the morning encouraging the day, but to a few individuals, a new day meant new, Reluctant work and difficult hardships.

And for a certain individual, it was getting up from her room, her eyes watching the morning sunlight cast over the land like a spell, which she profoundly enjoyed the idea of.

"HEY! USELESS! GET YOURSELF READY BEFORE I **DRAG** YOU OUT HERE!"

Useless, or Soki was immediately snapped from her stupor, the mad yells and pounds of her father on the poor door that had to withstand such torment for 16 years of the only life she knew. With a reluctant sigh, Soki begrudgingly trudged from her bed, letting the Blue-Silver Blankets she had follow behind her, still clutched in a death-lock in one hand. Wiping her eyes, she yawned, releasing the blanket in her hands, letting it sit as she made her way to the small closet where she held clothing. Silently changing into the most efficient outfit she knew, a small, white top with two buttons trailing down the middle, and a small, Red bow near her neck, she also grabbed simple brown pants, took a quick look in the mirror, and opened the door, putting on the fakest cheerful expression she could make.

Her father came bellowing through, a big man, in size, not weight, who easily had about 8 inches on the 5'4 girl. He lumbered like a giant, wearing a merchant's suit, and always had that scowl on his face. She'd tried, when she was much younger, to get him to smile, but the man only smiled when he made a good sell in his store. Currently, and alternatively, he looked ready to explode on the girl, who shrunk back, waiting for the yells that were almost sure to come, holding her arms out protectively over her face, as if to protect against the voice. Of course, this was nothing but an act to get her father off of her back, his wrath was something that she did not need on a day like this. Today was and will be the most important day of her life, so far.

Her father lifted a finger, Held his mouth agape for a few seconds, but then promptly and quickly shut it, lowering his finger, muttering to himself in a low voice. Soki looked up, her arms lowering slowly, unsure if he was or wasn't going to yell at her. Finally, he sighed in resignation, walking away to supposedly check on an item in the store, while still muttering, giving a passing jab to the counter where Soki had reluctantly worked at since she was 13. The girl snickered under her breath, her act getting away once again from her idiot father, nearly skipping over to the counter, stopping herself only so her father wouldn't notice her glee and get suspicious. Once over, she blew off the settling dust from the previous day, Old scars and marks still labelling the years and years the counter has been presently here, worked by many others before Soki. Once the dust was gone, she placed both arms on the counter, plastered a big smile on her face, and settled her eyes on the mahogany clock near the doorway of the shop, counting out how many hours until her work time was over, keeping in her mind about the idea of a spell that casted over the valley like sunlight, for a spell idea she could make in her head.

Soki loved magic, in fact, she was obsessed with it. As a child, she loved the tails of witches sailing away on flying broomsticks, or magical beings with the ability to fire off sparkly orbs and spheres of beautiful, firework-like pellets of magic, or laser beams strong enough to turn mountains into dust. So when she decided to check out the remains of a decaying library, massive, but set to be destroyed, finding the grimoire was a strike of luck and what Soki believed to be only fate, it took days of hunting inside the building to find it. It was, of course, sealed off, using chain, but Soki had no problem 'Borrowing' a pair of pliers from her father, and he would have it back by noon anyways. For 5 years, she read and studied and tried so hard to learn everything it held, but it was last year she created the first ever working rune in her life. Excited, and extremely optimistic, she aimed to create a rune that could transport her from one place to another, specifically about a place she just so happened to read in the grimoire, a land that dwelled with legend, fantasy, and magic.

Gensokyo.

It was such a mythical place, with so many different kinds of creatures she never even knew existed. From the many diverse amounts of Youkai to Gods, Onis, Satoris, even Humans were somewhere in there as well. She'd read the chapter on it over a hundred times already, it held everything she hoped would exist, and hell, if the book said it existed, she might as well give it a shot. Unfortunately, Magic, in any shape or form, was declared witchcraft where she lived, and would be a sure sentence to death if ever figured out. Soki was careful over the years to snuffle out any fires she made, hide anything that was destroyed, and erase every sign of chalk on her floorboard. Tonight, she decided, was the night she made her break for the land, which meant today was the slowest day of her life. Customers lingered for what must've been hours, deciding and choosing whatever trinkets they could pick out in the store, leaving Soki to silently die from the anxiety she was currently feeling, her smile still unchanging, repeating the same sentence over and over again, "Yes, Thank you, Have a good day!", Until she started hating saying it.

And finally, after a pain filled 12 hours, Soki was dismissed at 6 in the night, making a full 90 degree turn on her right heel, and what seemed like exploding out towards the stairs, blurring slightly due to speed, sprinting up the stairs, without a care on what may have dropped or broken in her mad dash to her room. She lingered outside for a moment, taking one last look around, still slightly unsure if she wanted to leave in an entirety,after all, she'd probably never see this world again, from what the grimoire said itself, and ran back down to the kitchen, not to say goodbye to the room, of course, but to pack essentials. Luckily, her father was currently outside, advertising something she had no current cares for right now, so it was easy to sneak her way carefully into the small room. Soki, taking one of the brown sacks that usually held merchandise from a large counter, gleefully turned to a few choice fruits and vegetables, and after a few moments of short debate, decided she wanted them all, scooping them all into the sack at once, now skipping like a giggling school girl up to her room. She entered her room, closing the wooden door softly and slowly behind her, as to not make noise that she was back up in her room, taking a few looks around, before setting the sack in her hands down, while moving to the bookshelf, silently walking, listening for any footsteps that may be coming up to her room, her father couldn't catch her in the act now. She pulled out a decoy book, grabbing the grimoire from behind it, taking a moment to admire it's cover, black with a red, glowing sigil in the middle, torn slightly, dusty, and with a slightly weak spine, but still strong after such old age. She hopped, landing on her bed, flipping over to the page she bookmarked with a cherry slip of paper. Brushing silver hair back, she took out a few pieces of chalk, also from behind the bookshelf, kneeling down to write the various symbols she read from inside the book, attempting to fit it into her room's floor, which was a problem, before she realized runes didn't actually have to be particularly large to work. After she was done with the runes, the next step was simplistic, all she had to do was essentially step into the circle, say the magic words, and hope her own energy would be able to transport her a long enough distance to Gensokyo. Head held up, ready for the best, her brown eyes shimmered in excitement, with the grimoire in one hand, and the sack of essentials in another, she stood up straight, taking a breath while composing herself for her last moments in this village.

"Ianuae Mag-"

Her father slammed open the door, in much fury and rage, holding a beautiful shattered portrait Soki probably ruined running up the stairs like she did. Although, much of that fury was nothing compared when he saw the glowing magic circle, and his 'beloved' daughter standing in the middle, holding an obviously banned book in one hand, and a sack of food in another. Soki and her father shared dumbfounded looks for a moment, Soki giving a few awkward, strangled laughs, but it was her father that made the first move.

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" He bellowed, before he shot forward, hands extended to restrain the girl from her works. Soki, had far enough of the nonsense. She waited far to long and worked far to hard to stop now. She turned her head towards her father, glaring at him for a moment, before sticking him the finger. To damn with this place, with her idiotic father, with the world she was supposed to be in, she was going to a world where she could what she wanted to be, whether the universe wanted her here or not.

"-…icae." And with the last of the words, the girl, in a burst of white light and a gust of air, which blew back any loose papers or sheets, vanished from thin air. Only the dust, visible from rays of sun, which had been settled on her body, now floating aimlessly from where she stood, her foot imprints still on the ground, and the circle was also nowhere to be seen, as if it vanished as well. The girl, in a simplicity, was just gone, like a magicians disappearing act, vanished.

And so begins the story of Soki Otochuna and the OHV.

* * *

 _Notes: Well, That was quite a crash-ride to write, considering it's very rushed and all, but do you really want to see 5 years of the character doing nothing but weird sentences and hand motions? Well, it's not only my first story, but it's my first OC story with an absolute ton of lore I have prepped for this. Well, that concludes the first chapter, and paves the way for more to come! Until the next chapter, Bye ~_


	2. The Universe is a terrible thing

Kaori was enjoying a wonderful day, observing the wildlife around her, watching things simply live out their niches, a soft bird tweet there, the soft patter of squirrels' feet as they scampered up trees, obviously afraid of the woman's stature. Kaori enjoyed many days of softly sipping tea, whilst taking these short walks, admiring how the world runs it's natural course, without a falter in its path, but that's not what she was currently interested in at the moment, no her eyes were trained on the figure a length away, who was currently sitting up, looking ready to burst out into a flurry of tears for some strange reason. She was covered in dirt, as Kaori could see from here, and the woman decided to say hello to the girl before anything else, she seemed like she just went through a terrible experience, poor thing. Silently, the woman turned on her feet, still holding the teacup, letting her blonde hair trail behind in the sudden blow of wind that passed as she walked between the two hills, her pink eyes squinting in an intimidating gaze, in what seemed like towards…

* * *

Soki, had been distraught she wouldn't have been able to teleport at all.

And when she did, She expected to appear right smack dab into a wide spread of land, full of magic and wonder, and dreams, and see sailing witches and lasers and magic pellets everywhere, and even if it was a plains with an open sky, she could've found some nearby building to distinctly tell her 'Yes, this is Gensokyo', but things happened a little bit differently than she imagined it would.

In fact, much differently, considering she was smack dab in the middle of a hill, in a relatively sized crater, with dirt everywhere and pieces of grass in her mouth, which also tasted terrible. Her muscles were a bit stiff from the teleporting itself, but it didn't stop the girl from shooting up, spitting out the grass, and taking an exciting look around for what she had imagined, But after around 3 minutes of excitingly waiting for something magical and dazzling to happen, when nothing did happen, she sat, thinking for a small moment on why this was the way it currently was. After taking a quick glance around, she realized there were no people here. At all, and came to the most reasonable solution she could think of at the time:

"It was a _fucking_ lie, wasn't it?"

Soki set down the book and sack slowly, rising to stand, her face with a visibly darkened tone to it. She slowly took a look to her left, and saw nothing but plains, to her right, more plains, North to her, a forest, and South, more god damn Plains. After registering her options, she decided the best thing to do would be to kick the ground over and over until dirt flew everywhere around her, letting her inner rage out into the ground that awaited her fury.

"I **SWEAR** to **GOD**. I imagine a **PERFECT** wonderland for 5 years, and it's nothing but a god forsaken **LIE**? What the **FUCK** universe?!" Soki let out a flurry of curses and screaming to no one, as there was no one to curse at.

"God…Fucking…Damn it. Damn it all!" Soki yelled up to the sky as if directly addressing god. After unleashing the inner beast for a few more minutes, Soki sat in the destroyed ground she created, now shriveled down to a sniffling, crying mess who just had their dreams crushed. She vainly and weakly pounded on the floor, her head curled into a ball on the floor. She never noticed the woman before she was over her, Only once she looked up from her tears, Directly at the figure of Kaori Kumoshi, Who took a distinctly and probably purposeful long and quite loud sip of tea, Kneeling down to match the crumpled form of the girl, A small, sad smile on her face. She tapped the girl's forehead, prompting Soki to look up in surprise, but also in grief at the one living being she's seen since she teleported.

"W-Wha-" Soki started her question, But Kaori lifted a gentle finger, pressing it against Soki's lips, shushing her softly, while lifting her left finger to her own lips. She lifted her gown slightly, to stop it from catching against nearby sticks and what-not, grabbing Soki's hands, lifting her up to height. Surprisingly, Soki was a few inches taller than the woman, and chuckled slightly through wiping her tears, a small smile forming on her own face.

"Did you just come here?" Kaori directed her attention to Soki, lifting her head slightly to link their eyes, her smile never wavering. She let go of Soki's hands, now taking up her teacup again, taking a few silent sips from it. Soki had to process the question for a moment, just feeling the wind for a moment, before smacking her forehead, turning back to Kaori, her tears now dried up, she placed her hands on her hips, chuckling a small bit.

"Well, in a sense, pretty much, yeah. Why? Do you live here?" Soki's voice came out a bit hoarse, due to her previous yelling, but if Kaori registered it was in that state, she ignored it. The girl took a quick moment to wipe any left liquid on her face with her hands.

"Yes, I actually do, and have been for quite some time." Kaori gave a reply in a soft voice, and quickly.

Soki nodded her head, and then let out an anxious sigh. There was no moment to waste, and no point to procrastinate, and hopefully this woman had answers, she seemed and had that tense feeling like she was a mythical being from Gensokyo. Now was the time to ask her the real question of this entire conversation. Turning her attention back to Kaori, she finally found the words to ask the woman,

"Quick question, do you know where I can find Gensokyo?"

The air tensed, and Kaori froze in place, for a moment, Soki had a half-scared, half-baffled expression, listening to nothing but whooshing air and leaves that trailed in the wind, while Kaori stayed in her frozen position, her face in a mix of emotions, conflicted. After the tense moment passed, Kaori let out a strained snicker, then let out a few more, then began to burst with laughter, tossing the teacup to the side like it was nothing but a tissue, she reeled her head back, still laughing at Soki, who was being continuously irritated more and more by the laugher. Finally, Kaori stopped, shifting her feet back forward, A few tears forming out of the laughter from before, which she wiped away. She re-straightened her blue gown, and then turned a much bigger smile from before on her face.

"Did you aim for Gensokyo when you teleported?" Kaori let out between struggling to hold down her laughter again. Soki was quite surprised that Kaori knew she teleported to the land she was currently at, but what shocked her was the fact she knew where she was originally headed.

"Yeah, I did, why?" Soki hoped her response sounded at least funny as possible, lest that tormenting laugher begin, but, much to her regret, Kaori let out even more laughter than before now, Falling over, Still laughing, while holding her stomach in a position like she had a cramp. Once again, after what now seemed like eternity, she stopped, looking up at Soki, who was now profoundly annoyed and steaming, while shaking her head, a few snickers escaping her mouth.

"I cannot believe it's even possible to overshoot THAT far! God, that's hilarious!" Kaori wiped the tears, which were now fully flowing down her cheeks, as she talked, sitting herself back up from her previous position, branches and leaves now stuck to her gown, but she dismissed it, more interested on the conflicted look on Soki's face. Soki, was taking this about as well as someone would say that your hard work ended up being your own failure and not the universes, and just compensated why she was still living and existed. Kaori was getting more than a kick out of her pain.

"Wait, wait, By….By how much did…I overshoot?" Soki slowly let the words flow into the air, almost scared to know how far she overshot Gensokyo, but Kaori showed no mercy, her small, benevolent smile returning, she leaned in for a close whisper to the girl, softly speaking the words that ends Soki's inner soul and confidence forever

"We're in America."

Soki, absorbed the words for a moment, and then came back like a hurricane.

"WHAT?!"

Kaori barely held in her laughter, putting on the most smart-ass face she could think of, which turned out to be her normal face. She took a sip of tea from a teacup, which now appeared in her hands, narrowing her eyes, taking a long look at Soki for a moment.

"It means you have a _really_ terrible aim."

Soki, now extremely silent and now not contemplating life but if murder was okay in situations like these, snapped out of her stupor when the woman was chuckling softly to herself, walking back towards the forest. Soki quickly grabbed her grimoire, and her sack, running after the woman, as there really wasn't anyone else here except for her, and universe be damned she stay the pathetic person she was, that woman knew something Soki didn't!

"Hold on- Wait, wait, wait!" Soki called out towards the woman, who took a prompt stop, turning back to face Soki, who was panting slightly from the exertion of running. She looked un-surprised that Soki followed her, in fact, she looked expectant she would come much faster than she did. Soki looked up at the less childish, now intimidating glare of Kaori, intimidated herself from it. She quickly composed herself, facing the woman.

"You seem to know more about stuff like magic than I do, and you probably know how I can get to Gensokyo, Right? I mean, I don't even know your name, could 'ya at least tell me that?" Soki held her breath slightly from the gaze Kaori was giving her, but luckily, Kaori returned to a neutral expression with a small smile on her face, nodding at the previous question.

"You are correct, yes, and I assume you want to learn more about magic?" Kaori raised an eyebrow, waiting for Soki to answer, the teacup now static in her hands. Soki nodded her head yes to the question, the intensity in the air felt like it could suffocate her. Kaori lowered her brow, walking off towards the forest again, and when Soki didn't move, she sighed, turning in annoyance towards her.

"Are you not coming?" Soki jumped at the sentence, nodding her head, and running to Kaori to meet her, who continued walking, and Soki walked a few inches behind her, keeping pace with her steps as they crumpled on dead leaves and grass. Autumn season was coming soon; summer wouldn't last forever either way. Kaori never looked back towards Soki, walking in a straight line on the same path she came out from the forest on. She then regarded the last question, continuing her steady speed.

"And it is Kaori Kumoshi." Soki once again jumped from the sudden noise, her previous attention locked on falling leaves. She turned to face Kaori, only for a few seconds, then turned back to the falling leaves she had her eye on. A few had strange patterns on them, glistening like they were full of more than just regular life.

"Soki Otochuna, splendid to meetcha'. Where are we going?" Soki's eyes never left the falling autumn leaves, but she could almost hear Kaori chuckle a bit ahead of her.

"Where else? My house, of course." Soki gave herself another smack on the forehead for stupidity. Kaori chuckled again at the smack, once again silent, waiting to hear the melody of the birds again, the animals are always what gave the forest noise and life, it's what Kaori enjoyed the most about the forest. Soon, the song of the forest returned natural life once again flourishing around the duo, both Soki and Kaori silent, as they admired the nature around them.

"You enjoy the nature too?" Kaori directed the question suddenly at Soki, who just shrugged.

"I find life something worth paying attention to, I mean, every life is precious. Some are screw ups, but yeah, precious." Soki laughed awkwardly for a moment, rubbing the back of her head, having a personal though about how that statement applied to her for a moment.

' _First time in your life you're getting a break, and now you complain you're a screw up?_ _ **Real**_ _nice, me.'_

Kaori just sighed, shaking her head in disappointment, continuing her walk forward along the path, her house now visibly in sight. She straightened her blouse, tightening the bow on the front of her blouse, near her chest, as well as the two that made up two lush twin-tails, which trailed behind her. She gave a sympathetic look to Soki, her smile increasing, and for a few minutes, she looked like a normal girl.

"No one is a 'Screw-Up' in the universe, there are beings that have unfortunate lives, and lives can change in many ways, Soki. Who knows? Maybe this very encounter between me and you will change your life for the better."

' _Or the worse, that's always possible._ ' Soki gave that idea a quick thought, before shaking her head, thinking that an encounter with such a person like Kaori could only mean better, albeit the woman a bit smaller and a bit more vague than she expected.

Soki smiled, and both went silent for the rest of the walk back, thinking about how that applied to both of the individuals. Soki was more than ever curious about Kaori, at first she thought she was some terrible person that laughed at the pain of others, but all in all she seemed like the most empathetic person that she ever met. Soki didn't notice that it was time to stop until she was stopped by Kaori herself, who once again had the slightly annoyed expression plastered on her face like a poster. Soki looked right from the leaves, to see a very spacious house, with long windows from the roof, crowning alongside the walls of the house, and beautifully constructed doors, all almost entirely created out of wood. She whistled raising an eyebrow to Kaori, twirling on her feet.

"You made this house yourself?" she sound almost disbelieving, her mouth moving to a one sided grin, her hands now once again pressed against her hips, expecting an answer from the woman, who was now slightly blushing in embarrassment, shifting feet a little. Kaori apparently didn't get praise that often from….. Well, generally anyone in an isolated space.

"It wasn't _that_ hard-" Kaori said the obvious praise trap sentence, in a lulling voice as well, just for the extra effect. Soki caught on it, but played along. It was obvious this woman didn't have people show up every other day, being isolated in this forest.

"I hardly believe that. I see barely any nailing, the design is fantastic, hell, I'd say a professional architect would make stuff like this." Soki continued the praise, wholeheartedly, and Kaori, who was now blushing profoundly, was fully smiling from Soki's remarks on her own house. But enough was enough, she shook her head, the blush quickly dispersing from Kaori's face, her neutral face returned present, she pranced forward softly, almost as if her footsteps could set off bombs, walking up to the doorway of the house. She gestured Soki forward, who, with much less elegance, walked forward casually, standing in the doorway beside Kaori, the woman cringing at the sound of crackling leaves. She pointed back at the spot Soki was just at, her forehead resting in her hands, shaking her head.

"What?" Soki looked oblivious to what she had done.

"Go back and try again, Soki." Kaori didn't look up, just kept pointing at the same spot.

Soki shrugged, once again casually walking back over to the spot she was, trying again with more elegance. She made sure her steps were careful, and gentle to the ground, before finally crossing over the grass and leaves to the steps and stepping up quickly, slightly annoyed from having to go back.

"Why did I have to do that again?" Soki directed her annoyed look at Kaori, who just looked up from her previous position, her arm at her side, her head and face now up, giving a bored look to Soki, as if she expected her to know the answer to that. When she didn't, Kaori sighed, opening the doors and walking in while shaking her head in disappointment.

"This is supposed to be a big reveal, a house of mysteries, a place that will change your view on the universe and beyond, and change your life forever, you don't just casually walk up to that kind of place, you have to be careful, like this is one big change that's being held on by a single string!"

"Meh, pass." Soki shrugged, walking into the house, much to Kaori's surprise. Kaori herself just face-palmed, walking inside to an arm chair, wooden, of course, with a velvet cushion, which she hopped into, shifting around a bit to get more comfy, before grabbing her cup of tea and taking a few sips as she watched Soki explore the building.

It was a very large building, a spiral staircase going up into a second floor along a wooden walkway, a marble kitchen to her right, and an open room, with several chairs, and a big glass wall to examine the space. To her left was Kaori, sitting in an arm chair, next to a fine fireplace, a Deer's head above it. Behind her was the doorway, of course. She took a quick look at the carving for the crowning aligning the edge where the roof and the walls break off, which was painted white. She dropped her sack, now dusty, in the kitchen, but kept the grimoire glued to her chest, her eyes frantically scanning around the area as if to see what the entire thing held. After a few minutes of absorbing the entire thing in, she walked over to where Kaori was currently, sitting down in the armchair across Kaori, still holding the grimoire, awkwardly staring at her silently, twirling her index fingers idly, and waiting for the woman to finish her tea. Kaori was simply taking small sips, also wanting to finish the tea before speaking. After around 10 minutes, she put down the empty cup aside on a carved wooden table next to her, clasping her hands together, silently staring at Soki, who was now flipping through the grimoire in her lap; unaware Kaori stopped drinking her tea until Kaori herself cleared her throat rather loudly. She looked up, closing the Grimoire softly, setting it down to the right side of her lap, and linking eyes with Kaori's. Honestly, Soki found it kind of unsettling, but if Kaori felt the same, she wasn't showing it currently. The woman gave a long sigh, and then turned to the large, wall window to her current left.

"I've always found nature quite entrenching."

Soki nodded in agreement. Being slightly anxious, she scrapped her fingers against the armrests, unable to sit and watch nature with Kaori. She took another glance to the upstairs section of the house, but the majority of it was dark, none of the lights were lit from up the stairs, strangely enough. In fact, the upstairs looked relatively unused, either Kaori had never bothered to go upstairs for the time she'd been here, or she didn't go up there much and kept it unlit. But there was always a third option that lingered in Soki's mind uncomfortably.

"Hey, what's upstairs?" Soki didn't realize she asked the question before she really did, and winced a bit away from Kaori, hoping that whatever was up the stairs wasn't something Kaori wouldn't get mad about if she asked about it.

"Pointless rooms, currently, intended previously for others." Kaori never looked away from where she was looking, fixated on the outside nature, but she let out a particularly long exhale. Soki could guess what that meant, so she decided prodding on it more would only fuel a fire that wouldn't end well for either of them.

"So," Soki still trailed her eyes away from Kaori as if she couldn't directly look at the girl, "Why did you… uh, bring me here?"

Finally, Kaori turned her attention away from the natural world next to them, she was now fixated on Soki herself, her smile once again present, her hands moved up to take another sip of the tea. Mid-sip, she addressed Soki, "Why do you think you're here?"

Soki just shrugged, "Because there were pretty much no other people, also you probably know more things about where I'm trying to go anyways." She pointed almost accusingly at Kaori, Her stature shifting right a bit, Kaori herself just set the tea-cup down, pink eyes now matching brown, but Kaori's stare was more of a glare now. Soki, was quite intimidated by the sudden change in emotion, lowered her accusing point, both hands now crossed in her lap.

"Allow me to rephrase my previous statement," Kaori's eyes narrowed, she held her chin in both hands, giving a nearly bored expression, "Why do you think you're still here?"

"What do you mean by that?" Soki ventured cautiously on what Kaori was playing at, she now held the grimoire close to her, ready to do whatever she could to defend herself if this once seemingly friendly woman decided to attack her.

"I can tell by now you're a perceptive individual, or you can make lucky guesses, and I tell you can notice that I am not a normal human being, no, so allow me to cure your curiosity. I am a youkai, by figuration between my eye color and current stature; it is the same reason why I look quite young, when I am in fact much older than you are." Kaori took a quick moment to clear her throat, before resuming, "I also could have killed you at any point near the moment I met you, so why do you think I did not?"

Soki, who was very conflicted again in emotions after hearing this, made a bit of a face, cocking her head to one side, before giving a nervous grin, "And why should I believe you have the ability to kill me?"

Kaori sighed, nodded, then raised a finger towards Soki's face; the girl in question had a near heart attack, scrambling away from the chair, which, once she was out of it, quickly exploded from a bright flash of light, a trail of white light following it. The crater was perfectly head sized, ash and scorched wood and leather trailed around the clear circle, a chunk of the chair was gone upwards. Soki shakily sat down, turning back to the smiling figure of Kaori.

"A-Al-Alright, it's noted." Kaori smiled, her hand moving back with the other, her chin once again resting in both palms, silently waiting for an answer.

Soki, on the other hand, was contemplating her knowledge on what she knew. For one, Kaori was a youkai of… Something, after all, each youkai separately represents something or either or like that, secondly, why _didn't_ she kill Soki after meeting her? Youkai aren't particularly known for sparing their victims, and regularly eat humans, unless something else was stopping her. Maybe a universal rule among Youkai, or maybe… it was a longshot, but it might just be this youkai prefers Soki? Either or, best not to keep the person who threatens your life waiting.

Soki tried her first idea, "So, is it some kind of universal law, or something similar like that among youkai? Spare every 10th human, or something?" But Kaori shook her head, now tilting her head slightly to the right, waiting on another guess from Soki.

Soki tried again, "Do you just personally prefer not to kill humans?" Alas, Kaori shook her head again, now replying to the answer, "You're not the first human to wander here, but you're certainly the first or second to get this far along."

Soki gulped down her fear, despite those words, but understood it meant Kaori wasn't particularly fond of humans, and had in fact, killed others that arrived here, like her.

"Did you just personally prefer to not kill me?" Soki winced on how lucky that would be if it was true, and sure enough, Kaori nodded, but also 'tsked' her a bit. "I do personally prefer you, but not because of you physically, just the part of you spectrally."

Soki paused for a moment, raised finger freezing mid-way, she turned back with a confused look, "You mean the part of me spiritually? Like, soul, part of me?"

Kaori nodded, sitting up, and calmly chuckling to herself a bit. After looking around for a bit, like she felt something, she walked towards the entrance of the house, waving off to Soki, "I'll be off, as someone just arrived, and I'd love to say hello to them, despite our… differences. Ta Taa~" And with that, Kaori pushed open the wooden doors, closing them behind her, walking off to wherever the woman had to go.

Soki stared at the doors for a few seconds, and then jumped out of the chair, landing hard on the wooden floors, rubbing her hands together, while looking around. This place was going to be fun to explore.

* * *

Ah that Yukari Yakumo was back.

Kaori allowed herself to walk a bit slower than usual, a dispute with this youkai was always a natural pain, but provoking her would surely end in Kaori's end, despite the youkai's gradually made power. The arguments were usually about her 'relocation' procedures, but Kaori insisted it would only drain magic for a short amount of time. Besides, after she was done, the house would anchor itself in a pocket of reality besides that the one she was currently in, and magic would stop draining entirely, it was only for a few short weeks after all.

At the end of the path was the famous and infamous Gap Youkai, Kaori simply sighed, watching a passing jay zip across the trees, truly beautiful things. All good things must come to an end, though, and the Youkai directed her pink eyes to Yukari's own purple.

"Good afternoon, Yukari." Kaori attempted to address the Youkai with as much respect as possible, god forbid how much she really disliked the Youkai, despite on how they would, or would supposedly naturally like each other, given the roles.

Yukari Yakumo, in her current state, was nothing but 'Good', she looked quite irritated, which was not a good sign for Kaori, her domain wasn't draining that much magical ability, was it? Nevertheless, Yukari looked unpleasant, but wasn't fully and openly angry, which could mean many things. The youkai was, of course, floating midair, much in a calm manner, her Umbrella open, held calmly above her figure. She had small frown on her face, but looked off into empty horizon, supposedly waiting for Kaori herself to approach the old Youkai.

"I take it you're here for a problem that I am aware of?" Kaori was now fully present beside the youkai, both hands settled in front of her, crossed, pressed against her legs. The youkai now had a smile that matched Kaori's her eyes looked sleepy, but intimidating, as she always was. Yukari turned now to face Kaori directly, eyelids rising a bit from their droopy stature, "Unfortunately for you, no, it's not a problem you're previously acknowledged of."

Kaori actually raised an eyebrow, being caught legitimately off guard on that sentence. Normally, whenever the Youkai was here, they'd have a chat on something Kaori did that caused some sort of magical decrease in Gensokyo, considering the tree there is what linked together the magic that maintained the household's state. If it wasn't a problem by her, it was a problem with the human she found or Gensokyo itself.

Yukari yawned, obviously not normally awake near afternoon, continuing on her address to Kaori, "There are a few 'problems' in a few areas that, were unfortunately left unsolved by the current Hakurei shrine maiden, and while I would be able to fix that myself, I think you'll find more keen to fixing yourself."

Kaori's own eyes narrowed, her smile dropping by a small length, "Are you being lazy and pawning off these problems to me?"

Yukari was anything but straight forward with Kaori, simply giving a small smile to Kaori that left the answer opaque, a gap opening in front of her. Half way through, Kaori tapped her on the shoulder, prompting Yukari to stop and look behind her, now, in a mostly sleepy expression.

"Miko Hakurei _couldn't_ solve these problems, or was _unaware_ of these problems?" Kaori's own glare could turn men to children in seconds, but Yukari's own expression never changed, unintimidated by Kaori entirely, "I am sure you know the answer to that question yourself, Kaori. Now, I really must be off, sleeping is one of the activities I do enjoy, after all."

Without another word to Kaori, she stepped through, the Space-Time tear closing shut behind her. Kaori, now on the absolute limit before throwing an angry fit, looked down at the spot Yukari was just in, and a slip of white paper lay in the spot, dirt already covering its figure. Silently, and solemnly, Kaori picked up, and flipped it over to read the writing on the other side.

* * *

Soki jumped from her spot in the kitchen, still holding the knife, looking outside the window at a notably bright flare of light, and the aftershock that came afterwards. Someone must've set off an explosive somewhere, and it must've been powerful. Nevertheless, she resumed back to slicing the apples in her sack into equal parts of eight, resuming with a grand total of 32 slices, which she would happily have the pleasure to enjoy.

Plopping down in the window wall room, Soki took looks outside the house, taking a juicy bite of an apple, the crunch echoing off the roof of the house. Now that Soki took a good look, the house itself was huge. It felt more like a Villa, since it was widely hinted by Kaori before to Soki that the entire forest was essentially owned by Kaori herself, whether it be legally or… forced.

"Bad thoughts are bad, Soki." External crisis aside, Soki found the house surprisingly comfortable to be in. At first hand thoughts, what with the murderous youkai that owned the place, and the extreme amounts of mystery and danger that shrouded the entire place, you'd think that a human like hers first instinct would be to bolt the hell out of there before Kaori came back and melted her internal organs, but the problem was that Soki, well, didn't have anywhere else to go. If she went back to her village now, she'd be sentenced to death for witchcraft; if she wandered it'd be a long time before she'd find anyone else. Kaori was such a lucky break, that Soki was starting to think the Universe had something to do with this nonsense too. God damn it universe.

Besides that, Soki was essentially done with her apples, so she set the plate aside on the floor, getting up, and now taking a much more interested look at the staircase. What was up there had so many possible answers, it could be a concealed super demon, a scary death laser, or even a concealed super demon with a scary death laser, anything could be up there, it was just up to her to decide whether or not she could figure out.

Soki was quite fondly remembering the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat', but I mean, she wasn't a cat after all, so there's no way that applied to her, is what Soki believed currently and said to herself to give her confidence as she took shaky steps up the stairs. At the very top, it felt cold, unlike the warmer downstairs, the upstairs was actually freezing, like nothing and no one EVER traversed up here, not even Kaori. Shivering a bit, Soki walked along the walkway, her left hand holding onto the railing, slowly moving forwards, deeper into the hallway. The first thing she saw at the end of the hallway was several doors, each and every single one of them differently designed. One had white marble pillars going up until they met top ends, with a fine carved wooden door; a softly blue hued crescent moon was positioned at the very top of the door itself. Another one was a scorched, burned door with chains over it, looking like it just got dumped into a fire and pulled out, unrepaired. Another was more of a rusted metal door that was heavily sealed off, several chains and locks on it. The last two had nearly no differences, save that one had scratch marks all over its front. Deep ones that cut the wood down to holes in the door, which Soki decided to look through, because interesting things are interesting.

Kneeling down, placing both hands beside a large hole straight down the middle, (Soki felt she could probably stick her entire arm in it) Soki looked in cautiously with one eye, but inside the room was nothing but a dark room, a single window casting in sunlight, a lonely bed, nightstand, and lamp, each dusty, sitting alone inside the room. Soki finally decreed that nothing was in the room, stood up, and twisted the knob to open the door.

Half way open, Soki's nerves tingled, and something from inside, something extremely strong, slammed the door shut with nearly triple the amount of force Soki was pushing it in. So much that Soki flew backwards from the door, hitting the wall and letting out a yelp of alarm. She got up quickly, now hyperventilating, went running down the stairs, and held her right hand up to the walkway, grimoire held tight to her chest, waiting to see if whatever had that kind of force exited the room to attack her. Soki stayed, aiming at the walkway until after a solid 15 minutes passed, then collapsing in the window wall room, on a cushioned chair. She panted heavily, now sweating and silently cursing under her breath, looking upwards at the roof, to nothing in particular.

"Seriously this time Universe, what the _fuck_?" Soki gave the universe another passing insult, like it could hear her. Oh well, the girl could imagine that it could anyways, more importantly, whatever the hell was in that room was strong. Seriously physically strong to launch someone like Soki into the wall, just by slamming a door, strong. Obviously once again, most other people in this scenario would refuse to go back up the stairs after that realization, maybe even going back to lock up said doorway, futile or not, to feel safer. But Soki Otochuna wasn't most people, and she had a knack of getting herself in trouble because of curiosity. After a few pep talks that had a lot of repeating the words, "I am such an idiot." Soki made her way back up the beautiful spiral staircase, carefully holding the grimoire close to her chest, maybe just a little bit mortally afraid for her life.

Once she arrived at the doorway, Soki decided going slow was only going to make her get more anxious and scared about this, so the best thing to do would be to slam open that door and strongly declare, "COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" Then again, might not be the best idea to provoke scary monster dude inside the door, so yes to the kicking, no to the declaring.

Soki took in a deep breath, swallowed her fear, and roughly kicked the door as hard as she humanly could. Of course, it didn't budge at all, so Soki decided to logically twist the knob slightly to get it to open, and then kick the living hell out of it. She was reaching for the knob, before the door was literally ripped from its doorway, obviously by whatever was in there in before. Soki winced, constricting both arms towards her chest, now attempting to take a look at whatever exited the room.

Soki, with much reluctance, turned away from the back wall, towards the doorway, and right at whatever had done such a thing to the door.

"...You have got to be _fucking_ kidding me."

* * *

Kaori could confirm that today was not, at all, a good day.

For a good start, she was currently on an evening stroll, and she was absolutely infuriated. This absurd youkai asks for Kaori to relocate past the Great Hakurei Barrier, yet nags her on a normal basis between weeks on how much she shouldn't draw magical energy lest it become a problem, then she tells her that next she has to capture and contain individuals she doesn't bother solving herself or getting that Miko to, because she's lazy? But by far most infuriating, was that note near the end of the whole thing. Was respect non-existent to that woman, or did she think she was above it? Reminding her of her past… mistakes, and how she had handled them from before, was far unneeded. That, or maybe Kaori preferred to keep such memories buried. Either or, she was finished with having her tantrum, leaving the landscape with a reasonably higher amount of scorched, dry, and crusted land, and maybe a few more craters here and there. Kaori knew she was well into late evening, and she still did have her 'guest' in her household, whom she still needed to have a chat with. Kaori took a few breaths to steady and calm her nerves, taking a full 180 turn mid-air, as she was currently flying now. The woman flew towards her house, making the best attempt to return with the intimidating look she had previously, to no avail. She was exhilarated from her previous rant with Yukari and the afterward fury she unleashed on the land. She might have blown more holes into the earth than she had really intended.

Arriving back, still in a slightly flustered mood, Kaori pushed open the doors, expecting to be able to have a nice chat, and finish the night in a relatively good mood and in simple peace and quiet, no chaos or tedious problems to solve anymore.

Unfortunately for Kaori, she decided previously that day to pick up a certain individual named Soki Otochuna, who just so happened to be too curious for her own good.

The girl was currently shivering behind the Living Room couch; face dead white, eyes wide open, frantically and fearfully shifting her pupils all around the room, as if she was looking for something. Kaori, now officially fed up with nonsense, walked straight towards the girl, a little bit more than agitated, grabbing her by the shirt collar, and lifting her up.

"What are you doing?" Her glare shot daggers at the already terrified girl, "Better yet, why are you so scared? I haven't even begun to threaten you yet."

With shaking hands, Soki took another terrified jab behind Kaori's field of view. Dropping Soki, Kaori twirled around, still glaring towards whatever the mortified girl was looking at.

And a giant, dark, cloud-like creature met her gaze with two white glowing eyes, its voice letting out a loud growl of warning.

* * *

 _20 minutes earlier…_

"…You have got to be _fucking_ kidding me."

Soki Otochuna was, in the biggest sense, unusual and 'out there', so in an abnormal situation, most of the time; she would be relatively okay with most strange things.

Now, this didn't apply to shadow monsters. Specifically, the one that was a solid 4 feet on the girl, had four curved fingers, and was looking down on her like she was some weird cockroach that just crawled on the floor, ready and ripe for crushing.

The creature let out a growl of alarm, unmoving, but staring at her with strange, glowing, smoking white lights that resembled eyes, raising an arm that didn't even look like it was a solid, swinging it towards the girl's side. Soki, at the last possible second, managed to duck underneath with a yelp of alarm, three large claw marks going into the wooden wall behind her, sunlight pouring through the holes. Soki didn't have to guess what would've happened if she'd kept her head there, turning to look at the claw marks only for a second, before taking a hard 90 degree turn, running straight towards the stairway.

The creature roared, crashing its way toward Soki with loud stomps and surprising speed that sounded like guns going off on each step. The floorboard creaked and cracked, the beast loudly roaring, humanoid arms trailing across the railing, tearing it to shreds. Soki could now affirmatively say she was scared shitless, once again hyperventilating as she ran away, dashing quickly down the steps, and nearly tripping at the end of the stairwell. She ran over to the kitchen, grabbing her grimoire, which still lay on the countertop, clutching it open, magical energy crackling around her entire body, raising her hand straight towards where the doorway of the kitchen was located, her arm and entire body shaking heavily, knowing that the magic she could muster probably wouldn't do anything against a creature so aggressive as the one she just ran from.

Time slowed, seconds trickled by like hours, Soki still waiting, utterly terrified to move any further than she was currently planted, her head pounding like someone ran a jackhammer on it. She waited for a minute, and 4 more, before cautiously moving towards the doorway in slow steps. She hesitated on each one, still in deeply remembering the face of the creature, and the oncoming death merely a few seconds after seeing it.

Finally, at the entrance, Soki took a shivering look outside, for the creature. She finally spotted it on the far side of the living room, towards the window wall, pressing a hand to it, looking at the passing animals, just as fascinated as Kaori, watching life pass by it, staring silently at the peace and nature.

Soki raised an eyebrow, her previous fear melting away into more curiosity. Still wary about her own life, she took a cautious step out, and then started towards the Creature slowly. It still hadn't spotted her, which she greatly preferred, but Soki wanted to see why the Creature enjoyed looking at the nature so fondly, it spiked an investigative feeling in her, maybe this 'beast' wasn't so beast after all.

Unfortunately, for Soki, she made a terrible miscalculation on sneaking up on the Creature.

When she was only a few inches away, it made a sharp turn, looking aggressively at Soki, roaring loud enough to leave Soki's ears ringing, clutching her head tightly, her eyes slammed shut. When she reopened them, she was met with a terrifying scene of the Creature barreling towards her, hands extended, almost like a rabid animal, provoked.

Soki yelped again, instinct to live kicking in, she reflexively dived sideways, sliding on her back, looking towards the Creature, who missed, slamming its foot into the wooden floor, which splintered and broke on the amount of force. It lunged again, Soki once again diving out of the way, this time running behind a couch for cover, at the exact moment a more than pissed of Kaori Kumoshi went into the household.

Looking in great annoyance, and not wanting to deal with this situation, she stomped over to Soki, grabbing her shirt collar, lifting her up to height with Kaori's eyes, glaring at her, unaware and uncaring she ripped Soki's shirt collar heavily.

"What are you doing?" She spat coldly at Soki, "Better yet, why are you so scared? I haven't even begun to threaten you yet."

Soki, now spotting the Creature behind Kaori, trembled in her grip, giving a terrified jab behind her, face turning even whiter than before.

Kaori dropped Soki, whirling around to face the giant that was the Creature, which looked down, directly in the eyes of Kaori Kumoshi, growling a warning to the much smaller person that was Kaori. Kaori herself unreadable, considering her face was pointed away from Soki. She lifted a hand, which Soki presumed to destroy the Creature, and turned away from the explosion and blinding light sure to come.

What she didn't expect was a loud slapping sound to be heard, Especially from Kaori.

"I swear, you over do everything you do!" Kaori threw her hands up at the Creature, who was rubbing its supposed right cheek, giving a low growl as if to respond. Kaori just shook her head, "So what if she was ' _new'_ , that's no excuse for tearing up the stairwell and giving her a phobia of seeing you!"

Soki was more so confused on how Kaori even understood the creature's inaudible words, or just outright growls for speaking. She watched, in earshot on the conversation the two were having.

"Do you really think a trespasser would still be here for so long, after I've been in their presence a multitude of times?"

More low growls, its arms were now crossing, both white, foggy lights staring directly at Kaori. It almost had a snide look to it, if Soki got imaginative.

"No, she isn't an actual trespasser, she's a lost guest, and I'm not going to kill her later either, Ex. Why did you leave the upstairs anyways? I told you she'd be more than 'cautious' of you, didn't I?"

Ex, now identified, raised its right arm from its crossed position, giving a prominent jab at Soki. Kaori gave a moan of annoyance, glaring angrily at Soki, who raised her hands in quick surrender, "Hey, listen, I didn't know there'd be a giant smoke monster when I went up the stairs, y'know."

"Still doesn't answer why you disobeyed my specific orders to-", Kaori was interrupted mid-sentence by a much disagreeing Soki, who also crossed her arms, "Wrong, actually, you left the 'why' quite vague.

Kaori raised a finger in objection, lips pursing, finally lowering her finger, her arms crossing again, staring sideways at nothing particular as long as it wasn't Soki. Ex, behind the woman, was now giving a nod of its head, as if it thought both girls were being childish on a small problem.

"Can you actually understand it?" Soki cocked her head to one side, her question directed towards Kaori, while giving a curious look towards Ex. The woman now lowered her crossed arms, looking at Soki, giving her a look as if Soki was oblivious, and shaking her head no.

"No, I mostly tell from body language. Did you really believe I can understand growls?" From the far end of the room, Ex turned its head to both of them, meeting eyes, giving them an impression of a surprised look, quickly turning back to its sightseeing.

Kaori, finally giving in, and just wanting to end with the day outright, motioned Soki with one hand to follow her back to the original spot where they had spoken. Soki walked over, sitting back in the semi destroyed chair from before, Kaori already comfortable sitting across from her in her own.

"Quick question," Soki raised a finger, giving a bit of a dumb grin, "What the heck is Ex?"

"The easiest way to explain it is that its sentient darkness. Any other way of saying it wouldn't make sense to you." Kaori gave a tired and long sigh, losing her previous demeanor, looking as if she just wanted to finish quickly and get off to sleep. Soki could very well relate at this point, her eyes drooping, feeling on the verge of unconsciousness.

"Now that you're…." Kaori paused mid-speak, thinking on an appropriate response for the events previous, "Acquainted with another resident of the household, I would like to finish our previous conversation, in a relatively short amount of time."

"So, you're tired and you hate this day and want to go to bed and sleep it off?" Soki raised an eyebrow, no attempt to be subtle.

Kaori sighed, "Precisely. Now, I must ask you a question I never found time to tell before, and be perfectly blunt with it."

"Well, hit me, whatcha' got for me?" Soki leaned forward in her seat, waiting for the mysterious question Kaori never got to touch on earlier be told. Soki imagined many ideas on what it would be, but for the sake of rating, we're going to leave those details out.

Kaori took a breath in, her eyes met Soki's, and she finally came out with the question, looking cool and neutral, "Do you wish to take residence in this household?"

Soki, was kind of disappointed, actually. She took a moment to absorb that in, and then pressed both hands together, taking a deep breath, then pointing both hands at Kaori, looking at her with a mildly annoyed expression.

"So, that's it?" Soki gave Kaori a hard stare, looking disdainful of the current situation, "That's really all you wanted to ask me?"

Kaori took an eager nod, hands over her mouth, as if waiting for a response. Soki gave a bitter sigh, hoping this was a terrible joke on Kaori's part.

"And you want this, why?" Soki raised her eyebrow again, her left eye giving a harder glare than the right, still trying to trick herself into believing this was a terrible, terrible joke and that Kaori had a much better question, like the meaning of life or something.

Unfortunately for her, she was talking to Kaori Kumoshi of all people on the planet.

"Because it is… Lonely here, with no one that I can audibly understand to talk to." Kaori gave an innocent smile like she would bait Soki with relative ease, which was the complete opposite of what the girl across her was currently feeling right now, the best way to describe would be similar to thunder storms.

"So, you first _laugh_ at my failure to complete my _life dream_ , then you make a _death_ threat to me, then you run off, and then you have your giant mons- Ex, come and try to kill me _again_ , and that doesn't even count the amount of times you've left a lot of things very vague, and then you're trying to rope me into joining your household when I've been here for less than a day, and only because you're interested in my soul, which obviously you still haven't explained, so do you see what's going on here?"

Kaori took a solemn breath in, and then proceeded to burst into tears, grabbing at Soki's sleeves and shirt, crying below pitifully, the girl looking at the woman with an incredulous expression.

"BUT ITS **SO LONELY** HERE WITH NOONE TO TALK TOOO-" The woman had tears now visibly flowing down her cheeks, which Soki knew were just Crocodile tears in every sense, "AND EX DOSENT EVEN RESPOND BACK IN ANY LANGUAGE I KNOWWW!"

Soki's face morphed into a more angry state, mixed with a bit of annoyance and boredom, pushing her away with one hand, looking towards Ex, quickly changing into a frantic look as if to say 'Please help, this midget is trying to strangle me'. Luckily, Ex understood the expression, the giant walking over, grabbing Kaori by her shirt collar, and lifting her up away from Soki's position with relative ease.

Kaori struggled for a moment, angrily lashing at Ex, who made no attempt to defend itself. After a few moments, Kaori stopped struggling; now giving an angry glare at Ex, turning to Soki with a defeated look on her face.

"Alright, fine, you have no real motive for joining the Household; I'm just a lonely scam artist who wants some friends, _alright_." It dawned on Soki now, that some of those tears weren't staged after all. Kaori was half angrily, half sadly crossing her arms, looking away at the wall to the right of them, the windowed wall.

"So, how 'bout a compromise," Soki was now standing in her chair, leveling her eyes at Kaori's, which dropped their angry glare, looking more curious and hopeful than before.

"You seem to know, at least more than me in magic," Soki flashed a quick grin, giving Kaori an optimistic look, "And you also know things I'm awfully curious about. You also know where Gensokyo is, so that's a definite plus in your favor."

Kaori was now set down by Ex, looking up at Soki, her frown now slowly turning into a soft smile. "What are you proposing?"

"You teach me everything you know about magic, and how to fight with it. Also, you tell me the secrets you've been keeping from me about myself and this place, and you tell me where Gensokyo is," Soki gave a very determined look at Kaori, leaning forward towards the woman, as if trying to anticipate her next move, "And I'll be more than happy to live here."

Kaori raised her hand to her chin, rubbing it, walking across the room, as if in deep thought. She raised a finger, turning on her heel to Soki, a thoughtful look on her face, "In just a few conditions, you help me with a recent chore I have to do, going into effect immediately, and you also swear your loyalty to this household and to me. In return, I'll even name it after you. How does the 'Otochuna Household Villa' sound?"

Both of them were silent for a moment, frozen in their current positions, contemplating the deal, Soki raising her left eyebrow to Kaori, brown eye staring intently at the woman, "The OHV? Sounds tacky, we're not a villa after all."

"Yet." Kaori raised her own eyebrow towards Soki, both eyes locking eyes for a moment, before Kaori extended her hand to Soki, a small, intimidating smile returning back to its place on Kaori's face.

Soki also gave a large grin towards Kaori, grabbing her hand, and shaking it diligently, both awkwardly pausing in the middle, a time lag of 10 seconds went by, before both let go of each-others hands, looking at one another, stature straight and alert.

"So… What now?" Soki was the first to ask a question after the pause, Kaori only shaking her head, the bags under her eyes were now visibly more present than before. She gave a long sigh of relief, as if she finally finished some extra hard job that left a person aching.

"Now? Going to bed, I'm awfully tired, aren't you?" Kaori gave Soki a small smile, then prancing over to the desolated stairwell, climbing up it slowly, and yawning on the way up. The stairwell seemed to repair itself, as Kaori's hand moved over the ruined and splintered wood, she disappeared into the hallway above, footsteps echoing off the walls, until everything came to an eerie silence.

Ex shook its own head, giving a low growl, once again stomping up the stairwell, leaving it, once again, destroyed and splintered, arriving at the doorway where Soki first saw it leave, violently yanking open the door, giving one last stare at Soki with its glowing white eyes, then walking into the room, slamming it behind it.

Soki gave a quick look around; the idea of going up the stairs came to her, but was nothing more than a passing thought, Soki finally concluded to stay in the windowed area, the 'Living room', in her terms. She lay fully stretched out on the hazelnut brown couch there, with no blankets, sadly. Soki wasn't really tired; all she thought about was how over her head she was in with this place. Soki blankly stared to her side, at the windowed wall, looking at the many stars in the lit up night sky, and the forest beneath it, peaceful at the current time.

Finally, after a long 20 minutes, Soki started feeling fatigue and unconsciousness settling in, her entire body relaxed, facing towards the outside. She gave one quick thought on the possible futures at the house, and the many, many unusual events that were certain to come her way in the foreseeable future.

"I'm going to die here, aren't I?"

And as her vision went darker and darker, the girl thought she imagined it, but it was almost as if a blanket had appeared over her, tucking her in gently.

* * *

 **A/N: Wow! Fantastic, I procrastinated so much on this chapter. The basic premise has been deployed, if not a** **lot** **little rushed, and now we've introduced 3 characters, yayyy!**

 **You're probably wondering: "SHIBI, THER IS A TOUHOU TAG, WHER IS THE TOUHOU?!"**

 **Never fear! The Touhou is on its way, believe me, there's a lot more Touhou than OHV in the story later on, but for a few chapters, the characters aren't going to be seeing much of Gensokyo, other than the occasional pop up from a very certain gap youkai.**

 **Reviews are always appreciated! I'll try to update every Saturday. Until next time!**


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